"Where Did the Year Go? Reflecting on our Relationship with Time".

Is anyone wondering where the year went?

I certainly have. It feels like being on a fast train, gazing out the window as the landscape swiftly passes me by—especially lately.

It seems the months are flying by, and here we are in November, ushering in the Christmas countdown!

Over the weekend, my daughter and I drove to a beachside town in Victoria called Torquay, where we took a trip down memory lane, and I shared some stories of my endless summers of fun with my family. It felt like yesterday. I found myself trying to explain the beauty of those times to my daughter, gently describing life as a collection of moments and memories.

As I stood explaining those times, it made me wonder why time seems to move faster as we get older. Those summers seemed to last forever!

It brought to mind William James' timeless insight from his 1890 masterpiece, 'The Principles of Psychology'— "the same space of time seems shorter as we grow older."

I started thinking about how, as we get older, there are fewer new or first-time experiences that anchor time, and predictable routines become ingrained in our daily lives in adulthood. Maybe the brain begins to operate on autopilot, distorting time? Days seamlessly roll into months.

Yet, when we are young, we encounter so many novel moments, trying new experiences, and time seems slow, almost as if it extends, creating vivid details in our memory. Is it simply that we do fewer novel things as we age, and that affects our perception of time?

Another thought to consider is from the French philosopher Paul Janet.

He suggests that as individuals age, a year becomes a diminishing fraction of their entire life, leading to the perception that time accelerates as one grows older.

For a child, a year constitutes a significant portion of their lived experience, making it feel longer and more substantial. However, as life progresses, each passing year becomes a smaller fraction, creating the sense that time is moving faster.

As we drove along the highway home, I watched my daughter interact with her friends on her phone; I began to wonder if our perception of time is not only individual but could also span generations' relationships with time. Just as our parents experienced our early years differently, we may view time distinctively from our children.

It was a long drive home :) And I thought about the concept of time's relativity being tied to specific experiences. I thought about when time slows down for me, and then I thought about when time speeds up, like the engagement in a computer game when I was young or watching a movie, which seems to accelerate its pace. Two hours can feel like 10 minutes.

Considering this, I wonder if the current generation, immersed in a world of distractions and constant sensory stimulation, raises the question of whether my daughter's generation's perception of time differs from ours. Will the generations raised in the era of smartphones and rapid technological evolution find their lifetimes passing even more swiftly?

So, challenging myself, I am beginning to think that as we get older, the key to affecting the perception of time may lie in how we experience it and that embracing novelty and new experiences like we were young (minus the tech) may affect our experience once again with time and its relativity.

So, as Christmas approaches, the holiday opportunity for me is to savor the moments with family and friends but challenge myself and embrace the new during the holidays with my girls, breaking routines and having a crack at slowing down the relentless march of time consciously, and in 2024 to see if time unfolds in unexpected and unique ways!

I do realize that getting older is a privilege regardless, as it means we are still alive, and all time is precious! :)

Does anyone else have thoughts about our relationship with time?

Time to put up the Christmas trees!

#trainable